Wentworth by the Sea

I recently stayed at Wentworth by the Sea with two friends for a girl’s trip. We were there for two nights. Our stay was lovely. We were able to check in a little bit early. We used the complimentary shuttle to take us back and forth into Portsmouth to see a show one evening. We enjoyed the pool and hot tub. Our package included an breakfast allowance (we had room service both mornings - the food was wonderful) and two free cocktails. Here’s the part that rubbed us the wrong way. Two us ordered cocktails off their drink menu and one ordered a Baileys on the rocks. We stayed and had a second round. When the bill arrived there was a food charge on it - 2 charges for $1.50 for ice for the “on the rocks”. Really? The other drinks had ice in them. There are ice machines on each floor and ice buckets in each room. It’s not a huge amount of money but just seemed ridiculous. I know it’s a silly thing but it left a sour taste on a nice evening. Other than that we had a wonderful time.

We chose Wentworth by the Sea for a mother/daughter weekend as we felt it was a central location to see Portsmouth; Salem, Mass. and Kennebunkport. We flew into Portland, ME as it's just tad easier in my opinion than Boston. The drive took about an hour and was pretty easy. The hotel is a grand old hotel that's been given some updates and TLC over the years. Could it use a tad more at his point, hard to say. We found our room and all of the hotel to be comfortable. The one thing I would suggest is to find out about weddings if you stay as it's a wedding destination. We were on the fourth floor of the side where the receptions are held and we could hear muffled music etc. until midnight the Friday and Saturday of our stay. We ate in both of the restaurants more than once and enjoyed our meals. Seeing that we were there in September, se didn't use any amenities although I believe the pool was open still. One thing that was great was free guest parking in a lot adjacent to the building. Always a win! All of the staff were accommodating in the restaurants, service seems fair for the crowd levels when we dined as in not too slow, not too fast. We had no issues with our room or stay so there wasn't a need to revisit the front desk. The hotel is just a quick drive to Portsmouth, maybe 10 minutes so it's not really walkable to restaurants etc. That wasn't an issue for us. All in all we enjoyed our stay and would return to the property.

There could be a lot of nice things to say about this hotel. Unfortunately, management are incompetent, so ruin the experience. Who in their right mind charges an extra $1.50 for ice in a cocktail? Who charges an extra $3.00 for splitting a salad? I do not mind paying $420 for a meal for 4. I do mind the petinis of whoever is the small brained manger that thinks nickel and dimming their customers is smart. Get rid of them.